Google Nixes Nexus One

Google (Stock Quote: GOOG) announced Friday that it will no longer sell the Nexus One, the first Android-powered smartphone that the company decided to manufacture and sell itself.

“This week we received our last shipment of Nexus One phones,” Google wrote on its blog. “Once we sell these devices, the Nexus One will no longer be available online from Google. Customer support will still be available for current Nexus One customers. And Nexus One will continue to be sold by partners including Vodafone in Europe, KT in Korea, and possibly others based on local market conditions.”

Once touted as an “iPhone killer,” the Nexus One, with its 3.7-inch touchscreen and 5-megapixel camera, died its own slow death. First, Verizon (Stock Quote: VZ) decided not to distribute the smartphone in April, opting to sell the popular Droid instead. One month later, Sprint (Stock Quote: S) scrapped the Nexus One in favor of the EVO 4G. Then, Google shutdown its own web store, relegating the phone’s availability to T-Mobile (Stock Quote: DT) and AT&T (Stock Quote: T).

In these stores, the Nexus One retailed for $529, though T-Mobile offered the phone for $179 with a two-year contract. (AT&T didn’t offer a discount.) This might have been why the phone never really caught on. According to MSNBC, while Google never released official sales numbers for the Nexus One, it is estimated that the device sold in the hundreds of thousands. In comparison, Apple has already sold 1.7 million iPhone 4s since the June 24 release.

Google, of course, can take solace in the fact that, while its hardware might be dead, its software is thriving. Verizon’s DroidX, the latest smartphone to use the Google-owned Android operating system, sold out online (and in many brick and mortar stores) just a few days after its July 15 release. According to Engadget, new orders placed online are expected to ship July 27.